Thanksgiving Week for Runners – An All or None Mentality

Hitting a PR or Awaiting the Off-season...There is No In-Between!

Regardless of how you choose to celebrate the next 2 big holidays, they typically serve as a time to simply gather with family and friends.  Plus, it’s extra time to yourself (I hope!) and time to relax your body and mentally decompress (and eat Mom’s world famous mashed potatoes).

As it relates to Turkey Trot and/or Jingle Bell 5k’s, your goal there is probably an “all or none” mentality, right?  Meaning, you’re either still riding high on the coattails of peak fall season; therefore, you’ll shoot for a PR.  Or, you are in a Recovery Period with a mellow approach to fitness/training and you’ll jog the course with friends/family.  There’s probably not much grey area here, nor would I encourage anything in between anyway.

Pick one: Go for the PR or jog it to enjoy the festivities.  For those pushing the pace that day, then yes, you should absolutely stick to your normal (healthy) routine on Wed so that you feel right on Thurs morning.  Then you can kick your feet up the rest of the week.  For the folks I’ve been coaching for at least a year, they also know that this mentality of embracing a recovery week is part of our normal training plan anyway.  As a runner, you might also know that this time of year (for most runners) is an extended, planned Recovery Period (intentional capital letters).  I discuss this time of year in more detail in its own section in my book, The Art of Run Training.

From Microlevel to Mesolevel to Macrolevel, we have off/rest days sprinkled in overall + recovery weeks (every 6 - 9 weeks) + a Recovery Period (2 - 5 weeks…once or twice per year), respectively.  All 3 levels should be built into a yearly program.  If you believe that a rest day can benefit you, and if you also believe that recovery weeks are a good idea, then you must believe that a Recovery Period is a fabulous idea, which is typically 2 - 5 weeks following your peak race season.  For those who live in a region with actual winter weather, the holiday timeframe becomes perfect for a Recovery Period.

As we change seasons, we change the type of training we do and simultaneously change the “mental approach to training and racing”.  Recovery weeks/phases don’t mean couch potato, nor does the off-season mean less training.  The former is an intentional recharge period; the latter is the intentional rebuild period.  The Art of Run Training outlines this entire process in more detail.

Enjoy yourself this week and allow time to do some soul searching in general over the next 5 weeks. My duty as a coach is to help build a strong frame of reference around this soul-searching in terms of helping the runner understand, “What am I capable of accomplishing next year!?”

Train hard (and rest hard)!

Mike